Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Bungee Jumping with Bungee America!

I had an opportunity to go on a bungee jumping day trip to Azuza Canyon with a group of OC bloggers through Bungee America. And I could take another person with us as well. It would include a 5 mile hike, lunch, and one of us could bungee jump off of a bridge and then a 5 mile hike back to the car. My teenage self said "heck yeah", but my older (ehem) self, 5 years post back surgery, said, "thanks but I'll hike and I'll let my 17 year old son jump". He said "Heck yeah!" without hesitation when I asked him. So off we went.

Kelly Weppler, Tanya Salcido, Debbie Miller, Becca Tran, me

We met in Azuza Canyon at the parking lot at 7:30 am on Saturday. We had to fill out paperwork and get checked in. There were about 3 jump instructors from Bungee America that hiked in with our large group of about 50 or more, and other instructors that met us at the jump site.

Hiking into the canyon took about 2 1/2 hours at a brisk pace with a couple rest stops. There were lots of hikers and even gold panners around the trail and in the river. We hiked through the river several times, up hills, down hills, and over all kinds of terrain. I'm so glad I was in somewhat good shape. I'm sure I wouldn't have made it if I hadn't been.

I had to keep up with my son after all. (don't you like my butt pack?) photo courtesy of Tanya S.

When we got to the bridge, we enjoyed lunch under shade and also enjoyed bungee instruction which was both informative and pretty hilarious. The instructors were captivating and pretty funny as well. I wasn't nervous one bit about letting my son's life be at their hands. As long as they did their part, and he followed instructions, all would be fine.

I knew this because I did a little research on Bungee America. They've been doing these jumps at this site for over 23 years. They own the bridge and the property surrounding it. They make their own bungee cords which have multiple back ups and their safety record is 100% perfect!

So yeah, I trusted Bungee America with my son's life and I smiled and filmed as he jumped off that Bridge to Nowhere without being hardly nervous at all.

video by Tanya S.

I was excited for him to have an experience of a lifetime. And he did.

So awesome! I bungeed once when I was in high school and it was kind of cheesy, just a tower kind of in the middle of a parking lot sort of deal. This looks like AN EVENT. I would've totally preferred to do it that way. But now I'm old and there is no way in hell I'm doing it again!